INDIANAPOLIS -- Twenty-seven NFL head coaches and general managers spoke at the NFL Scouting Combine. Some of them said virtually nothing of substance. Others were chock-full of nuggets. All of them spoke in code.

Teams don't normally announce franchise tags or roster cuts during the combine. But they leave a lot of breadcrumbs about what player personnel moves are coming. It's a day for football news diehards. Here's what Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling and I learned during a frenetic Thursday:

"Every team is going to do everything in their bag to get it done. So who knows? I don't know," Gettleman said.

Gettleman kept stressing how cap-strapped the Panthers were. He didn't want to make short-term decisions. He also emphasized he wouldn't have big, long-term deals for a lot of players. And that you should spend big on big players. (Translation: Cornerback Captain Munnerlyn shouldn't expect a huge, long-term offer.)

3. The most endearing Gettleman trait: His hard New York accent when saying Stah Lotulelei. The surprising item from Gettleman. He was noncommittal about Steve Smith's future, even though cutting Smith wouldn't save salary-cap money.

"Steve's had a great career, and (long pause) the bottom line is, it's part of the evaluation process," Gettleman said. Strange.

4. Good news for Gettleman: The cap is expected to rise about $4 million more than expected.

5. The Patriots announced Michael Lombardi as an "assistant to the coaching staff," an odd, vague title for a player personnel guy. Bill Belichick's explanation for Lombardi's role was just as vague:

"Mike's got a lot of experience. He's done a lot of things in his career in the NFL ... We do what we always do -- what we think is best for our football team."

6. Only at the combine: Belichick waxed nostalgic about when the combine was held outdoors and he watched Refrigerator Perry's vertical jump in the fading light of man's mortality.

"With the supply and demand at quarterback, Carson at least puts us in the position where you don't have to force, and when I say force, you're sitting at 20 or wherever we are in the draft, and feel like we have to have one," Keim said.